Pandemic
Significantly more children and young people suffer from social media addiction
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Staying at home, no school, no friends – the pandemic was a major challenge for most children and young people. No wonder that many flee into digital worlds. Studies have now shown that immersion in social networks and dawdling on the computer is rampant. Researchers are concerned.
Not only do children and young people spend more and more time in the virtual world, they sometimes develop a dependency. This is now also shown in a joint study by the health insurance company DAK and the University Hospital Hamburg-Eppendorf. The result: 680,000 young people are addicted to computer games and social media.
6.7 percent of minors show addictive behavior in relation to social media
The proportion of minors who show addictive behavior on social media has increased from 3.2 to 6.7 percent since 2019. When it comes to using computer games, the rate climbed from 2.7 percent back then to 6.3 percent last year. For the study, a representative group of 10 to 21-year-olds from around 1,200 families was asked about their use of digital media. According to the information provided, the opinion research institute Forsa carried out surveys nationwide in five waves over a period of three years.
“If we don’t act quickly now, more and more children and young people will slip into media addiction and the negative trend can no longer be stopped,” said DAK CEO Andreas Storm. “It is a new development task of politics and society that children and young people learn to assess the risks of using digital media and to reflect on their usage behavior so that they can use the possibilities of the digital world constructively in the long term for their private and professional life.” , Storm continues.
Male children and adolescents are more frequently affected
According to the study, boys and young men are particularly susceptible. Especially when it comes to gaming, they are represented by a two-thirds majority. 68.4 percent of the children and young people in whom the use of digital games is classified as problematic are male. In the area of social media, the gender ratio is quite balanced.
But what exactly is media addiction? According to Federal Drug Commissioner Burkhard Blienert, addiction to digital media shows behavior that has many of the characteristics of addiction or dependency. For example, those affected no longer have control over their use of the Internet and computer games. The children and young people neglect other areas of life just to be able to cope with their digital addiction.
Children and young people show physical complaints
The present study was the first to examine the physical effects of excessive media use. The result: the children and young people surveyed complained of neck pain (32.1 percent) after using digital devices for several hours. 23.4 percent have dry and itchy eyes. 16.9 percent said they had pain in their forearm or hand.
Although the usage times of digital media are still well above the level before the pandemic, they have decreased compared to the lockdown in spring 2020. In September 2019, children and young people spent an average of 78 minutes playing computer games on a working day; in the most recent survey in June 2022, it was 113 minutes. A significant increase of around 35 percent can also be seen in the use of social media compared to autumn 2019.
Source used: dpa.de